Congressional Republicans Change Rules to Protect DeLay

The Republican Caucus in the House of Representatives voted on Wednesday to change the way it operates. Now, if a party leader is indicted for a felony, he doesn’t have to step down. Instead, the new rule allows the suspect (because that’s what one is when under indictment) to keep his position while the caucus reviews the case to decide if it is necessary for the alleged felon to resign the post. All of this would be mere housekeeping rule-making except that there is a chance that Texas Congressman Tom DeLay may face indictment shortly.

The multiple charges that Mr. DeLay could face have been enumerated previously. In a nutshell, three of DeLay’s cronies and eight corporations have been indicted by an Austin, Texas, grand jury for illegal campaign contributions to a political action committee with ties to Congressman DeLay. The prosecutor, Ronnie Earle, is a Democrat. The House Ethics Committee has admonished him three times in the last year on related matters. The leap of imagination required to envision an indictment for the congressman is a small one.

The reasoning behind the GOP’s move is to lower the profile on congressmen. Congressman Henry Bonilla (TX-R) who initiated the change saying, "We are trying to protect members of our leadership from any crackpot district attorney in any state of the nation from taking on a political agenda." And bearing in mind that a motivated prosecutor can, as it has been said, indict a ham sandwich, that is a legitimate issue. However, like most well-intentioned rule-changes, it doesn’t actually fix the problem. Such a crackpot DA won’t care in the least about whether someone is forced out of a leadership role. The headline will be “Congressman Indicted” not “Congressman Forced out of Committee Chairmanship as Result of Indictment.”

On the other side of the aisle, the Democrats for the first time since the election seem to understand what their job is. Congressman Tom Bell, who brought the ethics charges in the House, said, "Not only did the House Republicans vote to re-elect the most ethically challenged member of Congress in modern history to lead them ... now, in an act of unprecedented shamelessness, the Republicans have apparently changed their own rules to allow Mr. DeLay to be indicted for a felony and still keep his job as Majority Leader. That is a truly pathetic standard of leadership.” Unfortunately, Mr. Bell is leaving Congress because he lost his seat due to Texas redistricting pushed by DeLay.

In the end, the GOP has probably shot itself in the foot with this rule change. If indicted, Mr. DeLay could have offered his resignation, and the party could have refused it as a show of support – a far more impressive move that would allow them to charge the indictment was political while the spotlight is shining on the issue. As it is now, they have appeared furtive and sneaky and thereby have lost the initiative.


© Copyright 2004 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.


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